July 9, 2007—The US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) membership has overwhelmingly passed a vote for all LEED-certified projects to achieve at least two “Optimize Energy Performance” points within LEED, which will improve the energy performance of all LEED-certified green buildings by 14% for new construction and 7% for existing buildings.
From now on, all newly registered commercial LEED projects will be required to achieve the two “Optimize Energy Performance” points within LEED. The new requirement is designed to reduce the environmental and economic impacts associated with excessive energy use and maximize energy performance of buildings through cost effective energy efficiency measures.
To help projects achieve the new energy reduction requirements, a prescriptive compliance path is currently under development as an alternative to energy modeling. The two mandatory points will count towards a project’s LEED certification.
Last November, USGBC’s Board of Directors passed an eight-point agenda to address climate change and buildings, including:
- A 50% CO2 reduction goal;
- Increased energy reduction prerequisites in LEED;
- Implementation of a carbon dioxide offset program;
- Continuous process improvement incentives;
- Certification fees rebates for Platinum buildings;
- A Carbon neutral USGBC;
- Portfolio Performance Program that recognizes companies for high environmental performance across their portfolios; and
- An educational program to help industry professionals apply design and construction practices that are energy efficient and have immediate and measurable impact on CO2 emissions.
